Love the Indies

According to the Booksellers Association more than 60 new independent bookstores have opened in the past 15 months, which is very heartening given these challenging economic times.

I was recently in Ely and whilst there paid a visit to the aptly-named Topping Books, a fabulous indie bookstore on three floors. It was literally packed to the rafters with a wide variety of titles. Have a look!

As I was browsing a member of staff even came and offered me a cup of tea (very civilised). I also discovered Slightly Foxed Editions, a range of titles in clothbound pocket hardback format - delightful. One of the staff told me that Gail Pirkis, formely the managing editor of John Murray and who is involved with Topping Books, set up the imprint and its related literary quarterly publication (plus a nifty range of postcards, one of which I picked up in Much Ado Books in Alfriston this summer!)

London's Gloucester Road is now home to Slightly Foxed. Gail has acquired the Gloucester Road Bookshop and will rebrand it as Slightly Foxed in 2010. She says " (...)The indie bookseller is set for a return for several reasons: people value a knowledgeable bookseller, they like an individual shop which does not look the same as every other, and they are tired of the hard sell." The shop will be "a natural extension of what the magazine uniquely does already – introducing people to interesting books that have stood the test of time, many of which are now out of print."

A new independent bookshop, King's English, has just opened in Canterbury in a Jacobean building famous for the way it 'leans'. Apparently it began to tilt in the 19th century when a door was cut through the chimney stack (although it has now been stabilised). Previously, members of the public could only admire this historic building from the outside. I feel a trip to Canterbury beckoning...